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Japan PM sends offering to Yasukuni Shrine: Japanese media

Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo is a controversial site due to its honouring of war criminals. Photo: AP

Tokyo: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has sent a ritual offering to Yasukuni Shrine, seen by critics as a symbol of Japan's past militarism, media reported on Monday, in a move likely to further strain ties with China and South Korea.

Mr Abe's latest offering comes just days before US President Barack Obama's three-day visit to Japan from April 23.

Japanese media said Mr Abe will not visit the shrine in person. Fourteen Japanese leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal after World War II are honoured there, along with Japan's war dead.

Visits by Japanese leaders to the Tokyo shrine have outraged China and South Korea, which suffered under Japanese occupation and colonisation in the 20th century. Beijing and Seoul have been highly critical of previous offerings made by Mr Abe.

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The commander of the Chinese navy will refuse to meet Japanese military officials one-on-one at a regional naval symposium in China this week, a navy spokesman was quoted as saying on Sunday, citing what he called hurtful actions by Japanese leaders.

The decision to snub Japanese officials attending the Western Pacific Naval Symposium in Qingdao on Tuesday and Wednesday also comes during a chill in relations between the world's No. 2 and No. 3 economies, amid a row over a chain of disputed islands in the East China Sea.

The decision not to hold bilateral meetings between Admiral Wu Shengli and Japanese military visitors was made "in view of the wrong words and deeds by the Japanese leaders ... which have substantially hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and undermined bilateral ties", the official Xinhua news agency quoted Liang Yang, spokesman for the Chinese navy, as saying.

Mr Liang also said Japan was not invited to participate in multi-country maritime exercises after the symposium because of "wrong actions" taken by the Japanese government that have "seriously harmed the feelings of the Chinese people and undermined the China-Japan bilateral ties".

"Under the current circumstances, it is not appropriate to invite ships of Japan's Marine Self Defence Forces to attend relevant activity to mark the founding of the Chinese navy," Xinhua quoted Mr Liang as saying.

Seven ships from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Singapore, Indonesia, India, Malaysia and Brunei had arrived in Qingdao on Sunday and would join Chinese ships in an exercise that would include maritime rescue operations, Xinhua said.

China's foreign ministry lodged a protest with Japan on April 12 after a Japanese minister visited the Yasukuni Shrine, where Japanese leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal after World War II are honoured along with those who died in battle.